A Pretty Good Kid
by Jlbrew29
Summary: Phineas and Jeffrey 'discuss' what happened with Billy the Kid...


**Voyagers**

"**A Pretty Good Kid"**

**Summary: **Phineas and Jeffery 'discuss' what happened with Billy the Kid…

**Author's Note: **This is a tag for the episode 'Bully and Billy'…with my own little twists, of course. This is the first Voyager story I've ever written. Be kind...

**Disclaimer: **I don't own these characters. I just wrote this story for fun.

…

"Green light?" Jeffrey Jones asked the Voyager, Phineas Bogg.

Bogg checked the Omni, the pocket-watch looking device that allowed them to travel back and forth through time.

It was their jobs to straighten out historical events that had 'gone astray' from their rightful course.

Like this one…The Cuban Revolution…which would have been a disaster if they'd let Teddy Roosevelt get shot by the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid.

Luckily, they had managed to stop the outlaw from shooting Roosevelt…but only barely.

"So," Jeffrey glanced up at Bogg, curiously. "How'd it go with Rita?"

Rita was the Cuban woman they'd saved from a bomb attack.

She'd been _very_ smitten with Bogg…at least she had _before_ they'd put things back the way they were supposed to be.

"Oh," Bogg said, shrugging. "You know…"

Jeffrey smirked. "You got dumped, didn't you?"

Bogg looked down and sighed. "Yeah," he told him, but then he shrugged again. "It was a different Revolution, kid."

"This is the right one," Jeffery told him, confidently, but then _he_ sighed. "And I almost messed it all up…"

Bogg glanced down at him. "It wasn't your fault," he told him, kneeling down so he could look him in the eye.

"Yeah, it was," Jeffery told him, kicking the dirt with his foot. "If I hadn't been such a kid about Billy…"

"Hey now," Bogg told him, gently yet firmly. "I thought we talked about this. You _are_ a kid…a pretty good one, in my book."

"How come you aren't mad at me?" Jeffrey asked him, curiously. "I mean, I went off with Billy without telling you and—"

"I didn't tell you that you couldn't," Bogg reminded him. "Besides, it wasn't like you actually heard me tell you to come back, right?"

"Uh, yeah, r-right," Jeffrey bit his lip, glancing away from him.

Bogg narrowed his eyes at that.

"Jeffrey," he said, turning his chin back around to face him. "_Did_ you hear me call after you?"

"Uh, kinda," Jeffrey told him, wincing. "Okay, yeah, I did…but Billy said I didn't have to listen to you."

Bogg stood up, towering over the boy. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"And was Billy right?" he asked him, curiously. "Do you feel that I don't have the right?"

"I, uh, I guess you do," Jeffrey said, quietly. "I was just mad at you 'cuz you wouldn't let me shoot a gun!"

"Guns _don't_ belong in the hands of a kid," Bogg told him, sternly. "They never _have_ and they never _will_."

"W-What if I _had_ touched one?" Jeffrey asked him, hesitantly. "H-How, uh, m-mad would you be?"

Bogg narrowed his eyes even more. "Jeffrey," he growled, warningly. "What did you do?"

Jeffrey winced, knowing he'd have to come clean.

"Uh, well," he said, biting his lip. "On the way to town…Billy _kinda _let me hold his gun…but I _didn't_ shoot it! I swear!"

Bogg blew out an angry breath. He turned away from the boy and started to walk away, not sure what to say or do.

"Bogg, please," Jeffrey said, grabbing his arm. "Yell at me…or _something_. Don't just stand there! Please!"

"I don't really know what do here, kid," Bogg told him, truthfully. "You did something I specifically told you _not_ to do!"

"I know," Jeffrey said, sniffling. "I'm sorry!"

"Sometimes sorry isn't good enough," Bogg told him. He started to walk away again.

"Bogg, wait!" Jeffrey said, grabbing his arm. "Y-Y-You could punish me!"

Bogg blinked at him. "Say what?" he asked him, not sure he heard him right.

"Yeah," Jeffrey said, nodding. "My mom and dad would have!"

"What would they have done, kid?" Bogg asked him, sitting down on fallen log.

"Well, they'd probably have grounded me," Jeffrey said, quietly. "But, uh, I guess that's not really an option…is it?"

Bogg snorted. "Kinda hard to ground you when you don't exactly have room to stay in," he told him, rolling his eyes.

He sighed. There _was_ one way to handle this, but Jeffrey wouldn't like it...and neither did he, for that matter.

"C'mere," he said, motioning for the boy to come to him.

"Why?" Jeffrey asked, coming to stand beside him.

"Because," Bogg told him, "I'm, uh, I'm going to spank you…"

"Say what?" Jeffrey exclaimed, stepping back a bit. "No way, Bogg! Nuh huh! Not gonna happen!"

Bogg glared at him. "It's the only option, kid," he told him, firmly. "This was your idea, remember?"

"Yeah, b-b-but…" Jeffrey said, trying to think of an argument to get himself out of this. "I mean, uh, you could…um…oh, bat's breath!"

Him and his big mouth! Why couldn't he have left well enough alone!

Of course, it wasn't like it hadn't happened before…his mom and dad had done it when he was younger…

But, somehow, this was different.

This would change _everything_ between him and Bogg.

It would mean the Voyager really _did_ have the right to tell him what to do or not do…

It would make Bogg more like a _parent_ than a _friend_…

But, he supposed, he already was.

Who'd have thought the annoying, historically clueless guy who'd knocked him out a window and then yelled at him for something his dog had done would become so important to him?

And so fast…

It had only been a few short weeks since they'd been thrown together (literally) and yet he was closer to Bogg than he had ever been with his aunt.

He lived with her for nearly a year, but in all that time he'd never once felt like he was wanted.

Her apartment had never felt like a home…

But with Bogg…even though they didn't live in a house or stay in one place too long…he felt wanted, safe, and cared for.

Wherever Bogg was, that was now _home_ to him—and he'd very nearly blown it because of something petty and selfish.

Bogg was ten times the man Billy the Kid was—no, a _hundred_ times…since Billy was nothing but a bully.

"All right," he said, stepping back up to the Voyager reluctantly, "but I don't have to like it."

"I'm not too thrilled about it myself, kid," Bogg told him, picking him up and turning him across his knee.

He raised his hand back and gave him ten good swats. Then, he let him up.

Jeffrey reached back and rubbed his bottom—which _did_ sting—and wiped at a few tears.

He glanced at Bogg, who looked as if he'd just lost his best friend.

He reached out and touched the man's arm. "It's okay…" Jeffrey told him, still rubbing. "…I'll live."

Bogg smiled at that, reaching out to rub the back of his head gently.

"I didn't like doing that, kid," he told him, seriously. "Please, from now on, just listen to me. Okay?"

"I'll try," Jeffrey promised, but they both knew it probably wouldn't last.

He was just too impulsive...and stubborn…for his own good.

This probably wouldn't be the last time they'd be having this 'discussion'.

"Are you sorry you got a stupid kid for a partner?" Jeffrey asked Bogg, hesitantly.

"Hey now," Bogg told him, ruffling his hair. "Nobody calls my kid stupid…not even himself."

"_Your_ kid?" Jeffrey asked, swallowing. Did Bogg really consider him…?

"Yeah," Bogg told him, pulling him into a big hug. "My really great kid…a Voyager couldn't ask for a better one."

Jeffrey smiled. _A kid couldn't ask for a better Voyager…or guardian…either._

"C'mon," Bogg said, standing up and taking out the Omni. "What do you say we blow this icicle stand?"

Jeffrey snorted. "It's _popsicle_ stand, Bogg," he said, shaking his head.

Bogg smirked. "See?" he told him. "You keep me straight, too?"

"That's what partners do, right?" Jeffrey asked him, grinning.

"You said it," Bogg told him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "All right, kid, let's go bite another bullet."

"Yeah!" Jeffrey said, excited about their next destination—_wherever_ and _whenever_ it might be.

Bogg hit the button on the Omni and the two of them disappeared into the cosmic time stream.

A Voyager…and his pretty good kid.

…

**Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks.**


End file.
